'I believe with all my heart that Republicans need to continue to fight for the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage with everything we’ve got in 2010 and in 2012,' Rep. Pence said Sunday.

(CNN) – A leading congressional conservative disagreed Sunday with a suggestion by his state's governor that social issues be put on the back burner in order to allow policymakers to focus on turning the economy around and bringing the federal government’s finances into balance.

Speaking to The Weekly Standard, a conservative publication, Indiana's Republican governor, Mitch Daniels, said the next president "would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues" so he or she could focus on the fiscal problems facing the country.

Asked about the comments, GOP Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana praised Daniels but rejected his contention about social issues as the midterm elections approach and as both parties begin to turn their attention to the 2012 presidential race.

“I think Mitch Daniels is the best governor in the United States of America. He’s done a fantastic job for the people of Indiana,” Pence said on CNN’s State of the Union.

But, Pence quickly added that, in his view, “Barack Obama’s the most pro-abortion president in American history.”

“I believe with all my heart,” Pence told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley, “that Republicans need to continue to fight for the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage with everything we’ve got in 2010 and in 2012.”
Pence, a popular conservative who is also chairman of the House Republican Conference, frequently champions the very same social issues which Daniels suggested policymakers downplay in coming years.

The Indiana congressman often describes himself as "a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican – in that order." And last month, before a largely conservative gathering of gun rights activists, Pence made a point of emphasizing the need to press for the primacy of social issues in the nation’s political and cultural fabric.

"We will not restore this nation with public policy alone,” Pence said last month at an annual gathering of the National Rifle Association. “It will require public virtue and that emanates from our most cherished institutions: family and religion.

"To renew this nation, we must renew the institutions that strengthen her character. We must stand for the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage and the vital importance of religion in our everyday lives."

soundoff(32 Responses)

"I think Mitch Daniels is the best governor in the United States. He has done a fantastic job for the people of Indiana"

There are people in Indiana driving to Ohio every day for their jobs, because there are no jobs in Indiana.

Pence is just another Republican liar.

June 13, 2010 02:55 pm at 2:55 pm |

Yahbut

Please Mr. Pence don't muddy the waters.
Nobody is saying that the abortion issue isn't important, whichever way you feel, but don't sidetrack this opportunity for the Republican party to win big in November.
If we don't get this country back on track financially it won't matter how anyone feels about anything else. We will be in a mess for many years to come.
You have a right to your opinions as everyone else in the country does, but, please, keep focused!!!!!

June 13, 2010 03:01 pm at 3:01 pm |

James

It's scary that you could replace 'christian' with 'muslim' in Pence's comments, and you would think he was speaking from Iran. I wonder when Pace and the NRA will begin training radical christian terrorists?

June 13, 2010 03:09 pm at 3:09 pm |

RTB

What a stink bomb!

Pence is another Republican gasbag blowing wind. He is grabbing for anything that will bring in some attention.

With no real ideas of his own that will make the lives of every day folks better, his solution is... "lets pull the morals trick out of the hat, and dictate what is Christ like".

"In this way people may not see just how shallow we Republicans truely are".

June 13, 2010 03:17 pm at 3:17 pm |

mike

Hey Pence wake up you idiot ABORTION IS LAW so if you think Obama
is doing something beyond the law then spell it out but stop telling the american voters that he is doing beyond the law the old spin on social security and abortion is not cutting it anymore voters want someone that is going to take care of the them on environment so there future grand kids can enjoy it not the old drill baby drill with no oversight

June 13, 2010 03:36 pm at 3:36 pm |

Captain Crunch

But, Pence quickly added that, in his view, “Barack Obama’s the most pro-abortion president in American history.”

Based upon what? That he does not agree with your quasi-religious control of other people's bodies?

Good luck with that psuedo-White House run! You won't win but one primary (IN) and you'll be laughed off the races!

June 13, 2010 03:42 pm at 3:42 pm |

John

Pence and all like him are scummy politicians... sanctity of life? sancity of marriage? look to yourselves and your communities. People are killing each other in your neighborhoods, young girls are getting pregnant, even raped. Try actually DOING something about these REAL problems instead of just lazily whipping up the blind masses with useless, politically manipulative rhetoric.

June 13, 2010 03:45 pm at 3:45 pm |

Len Smith

Mike Pence is so so yesterday. None of these social issues have anything to do with government and only distract from the things that need to be addressed. First abortion is not a concern of the government and if someone doesn't want to have, then don't have one. And, what difference does it make to Pence as to what the President thinks about abortion, which my guess is he is against. Is Pence feel like he will not be able to have one, if needed? How does same-sex marriage have any effect on Mr. Pence? Will it destroy his marriage for some reason? It is all so, so silly.

June 13, 2010 03:49 pm at 3:49 pm |

free mason approach to religion

Personally, I prefer the free mason approach to religion. That is, that everyone should believe in a supreme being; and their worship and discussion should be confined to the sanctity of their home and family.... It was not allowed by the founder father free masons nor any free mason to discuss religion in the lodges or certainly not in government....

June 13, 2010 03:55 pm at 3:55 pm |

Tony in Maine

Pence has no interest in governance – only power and the money it generates.

June 13, 2010 04:18 pm at 4:18 pm |

Dan in FL

Pence represents what's wrong with the Republican Party: the fanatical focus on issues that are none of the government's business.

Here's a conservative thought, take government out of individual medical decisions, whether they be abortion, cancer treatment or end-of-life care. Leave those decisions to individuals, families and doctors. If there is a dispute, let the courts determine who gets the last word.

True conservatives know that the role of government is not to tell people how to lead their lives, but to protect us from foreign threats and from each other. Mike Pence is pushing a religious agenda, not a conservative one.

June 13, 2010 04:19 pm at 4:19 pm |

Wendy P

You mean the same "sanctity of marriage" that fails 50% of the time, and conservatives like Larry Craig, Mark Sanford, John Ensign, and David Vitter cherished so much!? Such HYPOCRITES!!!

June 13, 2010 04:29 pm at 4:29 pm |

chris

Here we go again – Republicans talk about small government but they always want to stick government's big nose in everyone's personal, private affairs. The self-righteous Republicans stand up on their ivory pedestal, looking down their noses at everyone else and declaring with great hubris that they are the "Party of Family Values." Then they turn around and have one scandal after another – Sanford abandoing his family (and his job) on Father's Day so he can see his mistress, holding events at a lesbian bondage clubs, and the list goes on and on. So they just come across as bald faced hypocrites.

June 13, 2010 04:34 pm at 4:34 pm |

Nick

Yeah because these Neanderthals telling us what we need in our private lives is just what we need from our so called leaders. Just keep preaching to your idiots for votes please! Thank you!

June 13, 2010 04:35 pm at 4:35 pm |

Darth Vadik, CA

Newsflash to the GOP...

...You are the ones who are trying to make this country into a Taliban like Christian state with your perverted values. You are the ones who keep preaching "bringing back" your perverted morality to the US.

Why don't you just keep your perverted bigoted values to yourself and leave the rest of us be?

June 13, 2010 04:40 pm at 4:40 pm |

Free in Maine

How many so called Republican Christian conservatives caught cheating on their wives, or admitting to being gay, or caught downloading kiddy porn, will it take for Americans to realise what a horrible hoax all this pandering to Christians is. The Founding Fathers, who were Free Masons, understood the need to seperate Church and State... now the Republicans tuist, turn, and lie to gain power and are destroying the Nation in the process.

June 13, 2010 04:43 pm at 4:43 pm |

Don E. Wuerl

I can only imagine this congressman could want to elect if he could; could it be Evangilist Pat Robertson? Or could it the biggest nutcase in the nation's radio waves, the pontiff of the Gospel of Extreme Wealth Church Rush H. Limbaugh?
Did you forget that the President signed an executive order banning Federal Funds for abortion?
We should never allow our social programs to be ignored, put on the metophorical back-burners, or dismantled. In fact, anyone who talks like we should will never understand their importance until they are discontinued! Doing so will be absolutely dangerous if not political suicide for any politician to contemplate!

June 13, 2010 04:46 pm at 4:46 pm |

Ryan

If the Republicans wanted to make abortion illegal they had the power to and willpower to when they have control of the President, Congress, Senate, and Supreme Court. They chose not to, they know they can't make abortion illegal, but choose to use it as the carrot attached to the stick that drives the republicans to vote to save the life. How many wars have you stupid republicans also voted for that had so much loss of life?

Abortion is the carrot which is used by republican leaders to get re-elected without ever doing anything about it.

June 13, 2010 04:46 pm at 4:46 pm |

Save America, impeach the treasonous republicans

Pence's 'sanctity of life' only includes those not born yet. He is quite a hawk when it comes to sending other people's children to war, and bombing the heck out of civilians in Iraq. Of course, he would hide behind skirts to protect himself. Last I heard, his right wingnut religion is not the offiical religion of the United States.

June 13, 2010 04:47 pm at 4:47 pm |

Anonymous

Pence is nothing but a "brown noser" for corporations.....I am not surprised he does not agree with Daniel-they both would like to become President.
Either of them are worth being even a "dog catcher"- Like the rest of the "repugs"-all they do is whine.

June 13, 2010 04:52 pm at 4:52 pm |

JohninTampa

With all that is going on I don't see where Barak Obama has had time to say one word yet about abortion. So Pence calling him "...the most pro-abortion president in American history” is baloney. Why not disparage him for something that is actually happening, instead of trying to rally your one-issue imbeciles? As if that were a question.

June 13, 2010 04:54 pm at 4:54 pm |

Alex in Wisconsin

Wow, seriously? the most pro-abortion president in history? The President hasn't done anything to alter the status quo on abortion rights. he hasn't strengthened abortion rights and he hasn't weakened them. Compared to past presidents who actually pushed for greater access to abortions, this is a joke. I'm really sick of Republicans claiming that Barack Obama is the most radical anything. it shows a glaring lack of historical knowledge on their part and it shows an even larger lack of analytical ability on the part of their followers who can't even put these statements into context.

As for the governor of Indiana...if i still lived there, that statement might have just earned him my vote. It's a brilliant idea coming from the right. focus on fiscal issues because lets be real, if the economy collapses, moral anything will collapse just as quickly. people will have more abortions because they can't afford to have any children in an economy. Crime will rise and so will the number of people who die due to lack of health care or services.what will all the pro-lifers say when the worst of human instincts take over because they couldn't tackle the more important issue?

June 13, 2010 04:54 pm at 4:54 pm |

Annie, Atlanta

I read a lot of different news sources all over the internet, and there's a real theme of late – the hateful rhetoric of the Republican Party, in general. They have gone over so far to the right to appeal to the extreme fringe of their party, a/k/a Tea Party, that I wonder if we can ever find common ground again.

They're ruining our country with their hate, bigotry, and distain for anyone who disagrees with them, and half of us think this is ok. We're being torn apart, and I'm beginning to think we can't stop it.

June 13, 2010 04:56 pm at 4:56 pm |

Kate in SW Fla

Republican and sanctity – an oxymoron if ever there was one.

June 13, 2010 04:58 pm at 4:58 pm |

the next president "would have to call a truce"

convienent

obstruct, say 'no', what ever you can do to slow down and keep anything from moving forward

GOPers are the enemy of the people, never thought I would write that, but there really is not other conclusion